As I write this, it is still not clear whether the Champions Trophy will still be in the calendar. If it does, it will be held in India in 2021, returning there after 2006.

Here we have the full statistical highlights from 1998-99 to 2017.

Most runs-300 and above:

Gayle and M. Jayawardene still head the list, with Dhawan now in 3rd place. Kohli and RG Sharma are a little further down, followed by other current players such as Morgan and Root.

4 players have made 3 centuries; Dhawan and the Three Gs, Gayle, Ganguly and Gibbs. 3 have made 6 scores of 50+; Dhawan, Dravid and Ganguly. Dravid made 6 scores between 50 and 99.

Highest innings (110 and above):

The record of Astle’s 145* against the USA remains, while the highest scores in 2017 were made by Root (133*) and Tamim (128).

Highest batting averages (Minimum 15 innings)-all cases:

Only Shoaib Malik features from those who appeared in 2017. The current Indian batsmen have not reached 15 innings yet. While Chanderpaul has the highest average, Gayle (closely followed by Jayasuriya) have the highest strike rates.

Turning to bowling:

Most wickets (15 and above):

KD Mills still holds the record with 28, while Malinga is now in second place with 25. The only other player from 2017 is Sir Ravindra.

No one has taken 5wi more than once, while several have taken two 4wis. They include Malinga (once in 2017) and Plunkett (twice in 2017).

Best innings bowling (includes all cases of 5wi and above):

The only outstanding performance in 2017 was Hazlewood’s 6-52, which is second in the overall list. There were a few 4wis, which are not shown in the above table.

Bowling averages (minimum 750 balls, all cases):

Only Malinga appears from those who played in 2017. Muralitharan has the best average as well as the best economy and strike rate. While his average is considerably better than that of Vaas in second place, Vettori’s economy rate and Malinga’s strike rate are relatively closer to Muralitharan’s figures.

Here are the statistics for all CT matches from 1998 to 2013. In case there is any doubt, it also includes the qualifying matches for the teams seeded 7th to 10th in 2006 which were played just before the “main” tournament for the top 8 teams.

Batting-most runs-250 and above:

Chris Gayle leads M Jayawardene and Sangakkara. The two Sri Lankans have played the most CT matches (22).

Gayle, Ganguly and Gibbs (the three Gs?) have the most centuries (3).

For scores of 50+, Dravid leads with 6 while several others have 5.

Highest innings scores (all scores of 100 and above):

Astle and Andy Flower lead, with Astle making his score against the US on its one Championship in 2004. As we will see later, Tendulkar’s 141* featured in one of the best all-round performances in the championship.

Batting averages (minimum 15 innings batted):

Chanderpaul is just above Gayle here.

It can be seen that the highest strike rates are 88.77 by Gayle and 88.01 by Jayasuriya.

Bowling (15 or more wickets):

Headed by the relatively unheralded Kyle Mills followed by Muralitharan.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi):

Note that the only 6-wicket haul came from one of the qualifying matches in 2006.

Best bowling averages (minimum 750 balls bowled):

Muralitharan has the best bowling average, economy rate and strike rate.

Apart from the World Cup, this is the only tournament in which all Test countries have had the opportunity to take part-though in 2017 only the top 8 are playing, with the West Indies and Zimbabwe failing to qualify. Similarly in 2019 and 2013 Bangladesh and Zimbabwe did not qualify for the top 8. In 2006 all 10 countries competed, while the “main” tournament followed immediately after the “qualifying” tournament involving the bottom 4: West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. As things turned out West Indies and Sri Lanka qualified and the former ultimately became the runners-up.

There has been only one other multinational 50/60-over tournament (other than the Champions Trophy and World Cup) where all Test countries participated. This was the Benson & Hedges World Championship in Australia in 1984-85:

All 7 Test-playing countries at that time took part. These included Sri Lanka but not the exiled South Africa. You might say this was an unofficial World Cup.

Note that the only ICC tournaments won by South Africa (1998) and New Zealand (2000) can be found here.

Footnote: If anyone wants to play around on Statsguru, they can select “ICC Champions Trophy (ICC Knockout)” in the Tournament heading, to get the aggregates for all these matches from 1998 onwards. I will be doing this in more detail over the next few days.

For the moment, the most matches played are 22 by M. Jayawardene and Sangakkara. The most runs scored is 791 by Gayle, and the most wickets 28 by the lesser-known KD Mills of New Zealand. The most dismissals are 33 by Sangakkara.

The best individual scores are 145* by NJ Astle and 145 by Andy Flower.

The best innings bowling is 6-14 by MF Mahroof of Sri Lanka. No one else has taken more than 5 wickets in an innings.